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The Journal of Mental Pathology 

Vol. I. DECEMBER, 1901-JANUARY, 1902. Nos. 4-5. 

The Trial, Execution, Autopsy and Mental 

Status of Leon F. Czolgosz, Alias 

Fred Nieman, the Assassin of 

President McKinley. 

By CARLOS F. MacDONALD, A.M., M.D.. 

NEW YORK. 

Professor of Mental Diseases and Medical Jurisprudence in the University and 

Bellevue Hospital Medical College ; Ex-President of the 

New York State Commission in Lunacy. 



WITH A REPORT OF THE POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION 

By EDWARD ANTHONY SPITZKA. 
College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City. 



THE TRIAL, EXECUTION, AUTOPSY AND MEN- 
TAL STATUS OF LEON F. CZOLGOSZ. 

BY CARLOS F. MacDONALD, A. M., M. D. 

The terrible shock which the assassination of President Mc- 
Kinley, by Leon F. Czolgosz. at Buffalo, New York, on September 
6, 1901, imparted to the entire civilized world, and which natu- 
rally engendered in the public mind a mingled feeling of horror, 
vindictiveness and revenge, — a feeling which was exceeded only 
by the profound sense of sorrow and depression which took pos- 
session of the people, when a few days later it was realized, that 
despite the highest efforts of surgical and medical skill, a fatal 
result to the distinguished victim was inevitable, — naturally sug- 






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l8o MENTAL STATUS OF CZOLGOSZ.— Dr. MacDonald. 

gested, both to the lay and medico-legal mind, the need of inquiry 
as to the mental status and responsibility of the perpetrator of so 
repulsive and atrocious an act. Moreover, there are many per- 
sons who are disposed to hold that the enormity of such a crime 
is in itself sufficient evidence to warrant the opinion of the ex- 
istence of insanity, merely because it seems to them inconsistent 
with the principles of ordinary rational conduct, even though 
aside from the act itself there be nothing in the entire life and 
conduct of the individual that is suggestive of mental disease. 
On the other hand, there are many who, in view of the magnitude 
of the crime, would oppose the granting of exemption from the 
ordinary consequences of capital offenses even though the offender 
were a raving maniac. Suffice it to say that the position taken by 
such persons, in either case, is untenable, and would be an un- 
trustworthy test of responsibility as regards the ends of justice, 
whether viewed from a legal or a medical standpoint. 

It need scarcely be said that the question as to whether or not 
a certain act is the offspring of mental disease, cannot always 
with safety be determined by the act itself, but must be determined 
by all the attendant circumstances leading up to and surrounding 
the act. 

"An act of violence," says Ray, "must not be attributed to 
insanity merely because to a person of high culture and correct 
morals, it seems inexplicable on the ordinary principles of human 
conduct." 

According to the Code of Criminal Procedure of the State of 
New York, Section 21, the legal test of mental unsoundness, as ap- 
plied to criminal cases, is based on the assumption that insanity 
is a question of law to be determined by the court, and that the 
question of responsibility in mental disease hinges upon a knowl- 
edge of right and wrong as to the particular act at the time it 
was committed ; whereas medical science holds that insanity, 
in its relation to crime, is always a question of fact to be deter- 
mined like any other fact in evidence, aided of course, in such 
case, by the interpretation of expert opinion evidence, and that 
whenever its presence can be so determined, the accused should 
be absolved from responsibility, irrespective of the form or de- 
gree of his mental disease or the nature of the act committed. 
"All that medical science has to do in any such case," says Dr. 
John P. Gray, "is to say whether the deed springs from disease 
or not. If it does not, the man is responsible, however ghastly, 
seemingly purposeless or vindictive the act may be." In other 
words, medical science holds that the whole question of responsi- 
bility should rest upon the presence or absence of mental disease. 



' « • * 

■. . • ♦ 



MENTAL STATL^ OF CZOLGOSZ.— Dr. MacDonald. i8i 

and not upon a knowledge of right and wrong as regards the 
nature and consequences of the act in question, and that that which 
in fact is a condition of mental disease cannot in law be a condition 
of mental health. 

The question to be determined then, in the case of Czolgosz, 
from the legal standpoint, as embodied in the Code of Criminal 
Procedure of the State of New York, was: When he shot the 
President did he know the nature and quality of the act he was 
doing, and that the act was wrong? If this question could be 
determined in the affirmative, then he was responsible under the 
law, and punishable for the offense which he committed, even 
though he was medically insane, so to speak. 

On the other hand, the question to be determined from the 
standpoint of medical science w^as : Was Czolgosz at the time he 
committed the act a victim of mental disease or mental unsound- 
ness? If so, according to the dictum of medical science, he 
was not responsible and hence not punishable for the act he com- 
mitted. These are the sole questions upon which the guilt or 
innocence of the accused must rest, whether in the eyes of the 
law or in the judgment of medical science, and it follows logi- 
cally that if he were guilty of crime owing to the absence of 
mental disease, he was equally guilty within the intent and mean- 
ing of the statute. Such being the case, the subject of the re- 
sponsibility of the accused resolves itself into a question of health 
or disease — sanity or insanity. Hence the application of the legal 
test may be dismissed from further consideration here, and we 
may proceed to consider the question of his responsibility from 
a medical point of view. 

THE TRIAL. 

The trial of Czolgosz which took place in the city of Buffalo, 
N. Y., on September 23-4, 1901, Hon. Truman C. White, Presid- 
ing Justice, was neither attended by delay ''nor harassed by the 
trivial technicalities of the law." The "machinery of justice" 
moved so smoothly and so rapidly, that the jury was procured, 
the case tried, and a verdict of guilty rendered within a period 
of two court days, with sessions from 10 to 12 o'clock in the 
forenoons and 2 to 4 o'clock in the afternoons, the time actually 
occupied being eight and a half hours in all. The proceedings 
were marked by no melo-dramatic or sensational episodes or un- 
seemly wrangle among counsel ; while the fact that, under the 
extraordinary circumstances, the trial was not anticipated or in- 
terrupted by any riotous demonstration against the prisoner — any 
attempt at mob or lynch law — when he appeared in public, affords 



l82 MENTAL STATUS OF CZOLGOSZ.— Dr. MacDonald. 

Striking proof of the respect for law and order which prevails in 
the community where the trial was held. Czolgosz was brought 
into court closely guarded by a double cordon of police, and 
handcufifed to an officer on either side. He was neatly dressed 
and cleanly in appearance, his face clean-shaven, and hair neatly 
combed. 

The preparation and trial of the case on the part of the people 
by the Hon. Thomas Penny, District Attorney, and his assistant, 
Mr. Haller, was well nigh faultless. Shortly after his arrest, the 
District Attorney procured from Czolgosz a statement several 
pages in length, which was taken down in longhand, in narrative 
form, each page of which he signed after himself making cor- 
rections' and revisions as to matters which he claimed the re- 
porter had misapprehended. This statement gave in detail facts 
concerning his premeditations and preparations for the crime, also 
his movements for some time prior, and up to the time of the 
shooting. The District Attorney also within a few hours after 
the crime was committed, proceeded to put the prisoner under 
the observation of local experts in mental disease, namely, Drs. 
Joseph Fowler, Police Surgeon, Floyd S. Crego and James W. 
Putnam. These physicians had free access to him, down to and 
during the trial — covering a period of nearly three weeks during 
which they examined him repeatedly and made a careful study of 
his case with reference to his mental condition. The District 
Attorney also permitted the experts on either side to confer 
together freely, and allowed those for the defense to have free 
access to all facts and information relative to the case in his 
possession — a proceeding which in efifect was equivalent to the 
appointment of a commission of five experts — three for the prose- 
cution, and two for the defense — to determine the prisoner's 
mental condition. This course on the part of the District At- 
torney, marks a new departure in the methods of getting expert 
evidence in criminal trials where the question of mental responsi- 
bility is involved, which is to be highly commended as a practical 
measure tending to eliminate much superfluous testimony, and at 
the same time to minimize the danger of contradictory expert 
opinions. 

In view of the great importance of the case, it is regrettable 
that no experts were called to testify on the trial as to the pris- 
oner's mental condition, in order that it might appear on the 
record of the trial that his mental state was inquired into and 
determined by competent authority. Had the experts on either 
side been given the opportunity of thus stating officially their 
unanimous conclusion, together with the grounds on which it 



MENTAL STATUS OF CZOLGOSZ.— Dr. MacDonald. 183 

was based and the methods by which it was reached, it would 
have left in the public mind no room for reasonable doubt as to 
its absolute correctness, and that it had been arrived at only by 
the rules of professional conduct governing the examination of 
such cases. 

The attorneys assigned by the court to the defendant, at the 
request of the Bar Association of Erie County, were ex- judges 
Loran L. Lewis and Robert C. Titus, both prominent lawyers 
and highly respected citizens of Buffalo. For obvious reasons, 
these gentlemen were reluctant to undertake what they regarded 
as a most distasteful task, and consented to do so only from a 
high sense of duty to the public, at the urgent solicitation of the 
President — Hon. Adelbert Moot — and other prominent members 
of the Bar Association, on Saturday, September 21st, preceding 
the trial, which began on Monday, the 23rd. 

Respecting the defense, it appears that substantially no prepara- 
tion was made, beyond a fruitless effort of counsel to confer 
with the prisoner, and the examinations made of him at their 
request, by Dr. Hurd and the writer, with reference to his mental 
condition, and a verbal statement by them to counsel, of their 
conclusion that he was not insane. It also appears that no plea 
was entered by the attorneys for the defense, but Czolgosz, speak^ 
ing for the first time in court, entered a plea of guilty to the 
indictment, which plea the court promptly rejected, and directed 
that one of not guilty be entered on the record for the defendant. 
Each juror on qualifying said, in answer to the usual question, 
that he had formed an opinion as to the guilt of the prisoner, 
but that his opinion could be removed by reasonable evidence 
tending to show that the defendant was innocent. And yet, to 
one accustomed to being in court and observing jurors when 
qualifying, it was difificult to avoid the impression that each of 
the jurors in this case held a mental reservation to convict the 
prisoner. Had Czolgosz been on trial for the murder of a com- \ 
mon citizen, instead of the President, it is safe to say that not 
one of the jury, as completed, would have been accepted by the 
defense; and instead of getting a jury in approximately one 
hour and a half, that feature of the trial alone would probably 
have occupied several days. 

Having in view the nature and importance of the case, the 
fact that no testimony was offered on the defendant's behalf, and 
that practically no defense was made, beyond a perfunctory ex- 
amination of jurors, and a mild cross-examination of some of 
the people's witnesses, which was limited to efforts to elicit in- 
formation respecting the President's condition during his illness 



l84 MENTAL STATUS OF CZOLGOSZ.— Dr. MacDonald. 

and of his body after death, and a summing up by one of the 
counsel — ^Judge Lewis — which consisted mainly of an apology for 
appearing as counsel for the defendant, and a touching eulogy 
of his distinguished victim, renders the case, in this respect, a 
unique one in the annals of criminal jurisprudence. 

The jury retired for deliberation about 4 p. m., and returned 
in less than half an hour with a verdict of guilty of murder in 
the first degree. Czolgosz heard the verdict of the jury standing, 
and without appreciable display of emotion. Several of the jurors 
were reported to have said after the trial, that the jury was in 
favor of conviction unanimously from the first, and could have 
rendered a verdict without leaving their seats, but deemed it best 
to make a pretense at deliberation "for appearance' sake." Czol- 
gosz was remanded to jail for two days, and on Thursday, Sep- 
tember 26th, was sentenced to be executed by electricity at Auburn 
Prison, in the week beginning October 28th, 1901. 

When Czolgosz returned to his cell after his conviction he ate 
a hearty supper, and soon thereafter went to bed and slept con- 
tinuously until midnight, when the guard was changed, when he 
awoke for a few minutes, and then slept again until 6 a. m., when 
he arose and took a short walk in the cell corridor, after which 
he made a careful toilet, and at 7.30 partook of a hearty break- 
fast. He talked freely, as usual, on ordinary topics, but main- 
tained his usual silence respecting his crime, and would not talk 
of the trial or the verdict. On Thursday, September 26th, he 
was removed from the Bufifalo jail to the State Prison at Auburn, 
N. Y., where he was confined in a "death cell," until his execu- 
tion took place. 

THE EXECUTION. 

Czolgosz was executed by electricity on the morning of October 
29, 1901. The official witnesses, consisting of the Superintendent 
of State Prisons and other prominent New York State officials, 
several physicians, three representative press associations, Mr. 
Spitzka and others and the official physicians. Dr. John Gerin, 
Prison Physician, and myself, having been assembled in the exe- 
cution room, and having received the usual admonition from the 
Warden, as to the maintenance of order during the execution, 
the prisoner was conducted to the room a few minutes after 7 a. m! 
Every precaution was taken by the Warden, who had immediate 
charge of the execution, to minimize the opportunity for noto- 
riety or sensationalism on the part of the prisoner as well as to 
insure that his taking ofif should be effected in an orderly and 
dignified manner. 



MENTAL STATUS OF CZOLGOSZ.— Dr. MacDonald. i8S 

As Czolgosz entered the room, he appeared calm and self- 
possessed, his head was erect and his face bore an expression of 
defiant determination. The guards, one on either side, quietly 
and quickly guided him to the fatal chair, the binding straps 
were rapidly adjusted to his arms, legs and body, and the head 
and leg electrodes were quickly placed in situ and connected with 
the wire which was to transmit the lethal current through his 
body. These preliminaries occupied about one minute. Czol- 
gosz offered no resistance whatever, but during the preparations 
addressed himself to the witnesses in a clear, distinct voice in 
the following significant language : "I killed the President be- 
cause he was the enemy of the good people — the good working 
people. I am not sorry for my crime. I am sorry I could not 
see my father." At this moment, everything being in readiness, 
the Warden signalled the official electrician in charge of the switch, 
who immediately turned the lever which closed the circuit and 
shot the deadly current through the criminal's body, which was 
instantly thrown into a state of tonic spasm, involving apparently 
every fibre of the entire muscular system. At the same time, 
consciousness, sensation and motion were apparently absolutely 
abolished. 

Two electrical contacts were made, occupying in all one minute 
and five seconds. In the first contact the electromotive pressure 
was maintained at 1800 volts for seven seconds, then reduced 
to 300 volts for twenty-three seconds, increased to 1800 volts 
for four seconds and again reduced to 300 volts for twenty-six 
seconds — one minute in all — when the contact was broken. The 
second contact, which was made at the instance of the writer 
as a precautionary measure, but which was probably unnecessary, 
was maintained at 1800 volts for five seconds. That conscious 
life was absolutely destroyed the instant the first contact was 
made, was conceded by all of the medical witnesses present; 
also that organic life was abolished within a few seconds there- 
after. 

Czolgosz was pronounced dead by the attending physicians 
and several of the other physicians present, after personal exam- 
ination, in four minutes from the time he entered the room ; one 
minute of this period, as already stated, was occupied in the 
preliminary preparations, one minute and five seconds in the 
electrical contacts, and the remainder of the time in examina- 
tions by the physicians to determine the fact of death. 

THE AUTOPSY. 

The autopsy was made by Mr. Edward A. Spitzka, under the 



l86 MENTAL STATUS OF CZOLGOSZ.— Dr. MacDonald. 

direction of the official physicians, Dr. Gerin and myself. The 
examination occupied about four and a half hours, and embraced 
a most careful, gross examination of all the viscera, attention 
being especially directed to the brain and its meninges. The ac- 
companying masterly description of the post-mortem findings 
and especially of the condition and anatomical structure of the 
brain by Mr. Spitzka, leaves nothing to be said here upon this 
point beyond the fact that the autopsy revealed no evidence 
whatever of disease or deformity of any of the bodily organs 
including the brain, which was normal in size, shape, weight and 
appearance, and was well developed in all respects, — a conclusion 
which was concurred in by all of the physicians present, several 
of whom had witnessed the execution. 

In deference to the expressed wish of the relatives of Czolgosz, 
and for reasons of a sentimental nature on the part of the State 
authorities, the Prison Warden declined positively to allow any 
portion of the body to be removed from the Prison. Conse- 
quently, and regrettably, it was impossible for the examiners to 
retain honorable possession of any portion of the brain for micro- 
scopic examination and study. Accurate measurements, how- 
ever, of the head and its appendages, of the face and of the ex- 
terior and interior of the skull, together with detail anatomical 
drawings and descriptions of the brain were made; also plaster 
molds of the head from which a cast was subsequently made and 
photographs of the same — full face and profile — taken. These 
measurements, together with plates of the drawings and photo- 
graphs are presented in Mr. Spitzka's report of the autopsy. 

In view of its great importance both to medical science and to 
medical jurisprudence, the writer regards it as fortunate that the 
State was able to secure the services of so able a brain anatomist 
and skilled operator and draughtsman as Mr. Spitzka, to make the 
post-mortem examination. 

THE MENTAL STATUS. 

On Thursday, September 19th, 1901, I received a telegram 
requesting me to meet Mr. Adelbert Moot, President of the Erie 
County Bar Association, in Buffalo, New York, on the following 
morning. On my arrival in Buffalo the next day, Mr. Moot 
informed me that he had sent for me for the purpose of requesting 
me to inquire into the mental condition of Leon F. Czolgosz, 
confined in the Buffalo jail, under indictment for the murder of 
President McKinley, and whose trial was to begin on the follow- 
ing Monday. Mr. Moot further stated in substance that three 
local experts had already examined the prisoner for the District 



MENTAL STATUS OF CZOLGOSZ.— Dr. MacDonald. 187 

Attorney, but in view of the enormity of the offense and the 
fact that there obviously could be no legitimate defense other 
than insanity, it was deemed important, in the interests of justice, 
that his mental condition should be investigated by other ex- 
perts acting in behalf of the defense, or at least independently 
of the prosecution to the end that the prisoner should be ac- 
corded every legal right, there being no desire to convict him 
if he were not mentally responsible, and that I had been selected 
for this responsible duty. With a deep sense of the responsibility 
involved, I consented to act, provided it should be distinctly un- 
derstood that I was not there as a partisan expert in behalf of 
either side, but simply in a professional capacity to aid in deter- 
mining the real mental state of the prisoner, and providing 
further that my selection would be acceptable to the eminent 
counsel whom the Bar Association had selected for the defense, 
should they decide to accept that duty, a matter which was then 
undecided. On the following morning — Saturday — Mr. Moot 
informed me that the gentlemen referred to had consented to 
act, and invited me to meet them in conference, which I did, and 
which resulted in their requesting me to proceed at once to ex- 
amine into the prisoner's mental condition and to report my 
conclusion to them as soon as I had reached one. They also 
assented readily to my proposal to invite Dr. Arthur W. Hurd 
to become associated with me professionally in the case, Dr. Hurd 
being the Superintendent of the Buffalo State Hospital for the 
Insane, and a competent alienist of large experience in mental 
diseases. It was also agreed that we should be allowed to con- 
fer freely with the District Attorney and with the experts for 
the people, after completing our personal examination of the 
prisoner. Being unable to establish communication with Dr. 
Hurd before evening of that day, and in view of the short time 
intervening before the trial, I decided to make a preliminary 
examination of Czolgosz alone, and did so that afternoon, in 
the District Attorney's office, first disclosing to him my identity 
and the object of my interview, and informing him of his legal 
right to decline to answer any question I might ask him. 

I examined him again on the following day — Sunday — in the 
jail, jointly with Dr. Hurd, and in the presence of one of his 
guards who was questioned at length, respecting his observations 
of him in the jail, as to his habits of eating, sleeping, talking, 
reading, etc. We subsequently interviewed the District Attorney 
and the Superintendent of Police, General Bull, who gave us 
all the facts and information in their possession respecting the 
case. The statement which Czolgosz made to the District At- 



l88 MENTAL STATUS OF CZOLGOSZ.— Dr. MacDonald. 

torney shortly after his arrest, throws much light on his mental 
condition on the day of the crime, but that official deemed it 
his duty to refuse to allow me to publish it. We also conferred 
at length with the people's experts — Drs. Fowler, Crego and 
Putnam, who stated to us separately and in detail their obser- 
vations and examinations of him. We also observed him care- 
fully in the court room throughout the trial. 

After our examination of Czolgosz, on Sunday, we reached the 
conclusion, independently of each other, that he was sane, and 
we so informed his counsel, on Monday morning before the trial 
began. 

It should be said that owing to the limited time — two days — at 
our disposal prior to the trial and the fact that his family rela- 
tives resided in a distant state and were not accessible for in- 
terrogation, we were unable to obtain a history of his heredity, 
beyond what he himself gave us. 

Czolgosz, as he appeared at the time of my -examinations 
of him at Buffalo, may be described as a well nourished, rather 
good looking, mild-mannered young man with a pleasant facial 
expression ; features, regular ; face, smooth-shaven and symmetri- 
cal ; mouth and ears well formed and symmetrical ; teeth, none 
missing, but in poor condition from neglect ; tongue, clean ; 
palate, fauces and uvula, normal in appearance ; eyes, blue and 
normal in expression ; pupils, equal in size and normally respon- 
sive to light and accommodation ; hair, light brown and slightly 
curly ; stature, medium — five feet seven and a half inches — and 
weight — estimated — about 140 pounds. The extremities were in 
all respects normal. The external genitals were normal, ex- 
cepting two small, flat, unindurated cicatrices on the mucous 
surface of the prepuce, probably the result of previous chan- 
croids, although he denied having had venereal disease other 
than gonorrhoea. There were no signs of specific nodes or peri- 
osteal tenderness over the usual sites of these lesions, nor was 
there any evidence upon the head or body of traumatism, ex- 
cepting a slight deviation of the nose due to a blow which he 
received at the time of the assassination, and a superficial, per- 
pendicular cicatrix on the left face which he said was the result 
of a slight injury he received when working in a barbed wire 
factory. There were no tremors or twitchings of the facial 
muscles, tongue or hands. The pulse and temperature and skin 
were normal, as also were the special senses, knee reflexes, co- 
ordinating power and the sensory and motor functions. Finally, 
a careful inspection of the entire visible body failed to reveal the 
presence of any of the so-called stigmata of degeneration. The 



MENTAL STATUS OF CZOLGOSZ.— Dr. MacDonald. iSq 

almost perfect symmetrical development — especially of the head 
and face — is a noteworthy feature in Czolgosz' case, although 
had deviations been found, the fact would have had little weight 
as tending to show mental disease or degeneracy, as marked 
asymmetries, both cranial and facial, are frequently observed 
in persons who are quite sane and above the average in mental 
capacity. 

In answer to questions, he stated, in substance, that he was 
born in Detroit, Michigan, of Polish parents ; that he was twenty- 
eight years of age, unmarried, and a laborer by occupation; that 
he was a Romanist, originally, but had abandoned that faith 
several years ago because he no longer believed in it ; that he 
attended the common schools as a boy, and had learned to read 
and write ; that he had used beer and tobacco, but not to excess ; 
that he had done various kinds of unskilled labor, such as farm- 
ing, factory-hand, etc. ; that his mother was dead, and his father, 
one brother and a married sister were living; that so far as he 
knew there was no insanity in his family, and that he had not 
suffered any serious illness or injury during his life time ; that 
he had never been subject to fits, spasms or vertigo; that he 
usually ate and slept well, and that his bowels were always 
regular. He admitted having had sexual intercourse with wo- 
men, but denied masturbation or other unnatural practices. 

Careful inquiry failed to elicit any evidence of delusion, hal- 
lucination or illusion. When questioned as to the existence of 
enemies, persecutions or conspiracies against him, he replied 
in the negative. He evinced no appearance of morbid mental 
depression, morbid mental exaltation, or of mental weakness or 
loss of mind ; nor did he display any indication of morbid sus- 
picion, vanity or conceit, or claim that he was "inspired" or 
had "a mission to perform," or that he was subject to any un- 
controllable impulse. In fact, as regards the existence of evi- 
dences of mental disease or defect, the result of the examina- 
tions was entirely negative. On the contrary, everything in his 
history as shown by his conduct and declarations, points to the 
existence in him of the social disease. Anarchy, of which he 
was a victim. 

My last examination of Czolgosz was made jointly with Dr. 
Gerin, physician of Auburn Prison, the evening before his ex- 
ecution. This examination revealed nothing either in his mental 
or physical condition which tended to alter the opinion I gave 
to his counsel at the time of the trial, namely, that he was sane — 
an opinion, which was concurred in by all of the official experts 
on either side, namely, Drs. Fowler, Crego, and Putnam, for the 



igo MENTAL STATUS OF CZOLGOSZ.— Dr. MacDonald. 

people, and Dr. Kurd and myself for the defense, also by Dr. 
Gerin, the only other physician who examined him. Further- 
more, the prisoner's manner, appearance and declarations in the 
execution room, together with the post-mortem findings, cor- 
roborated most conclusively the original opinion as to sanity, — 
while his dying declarations that he killed the President because 
he regarded him as "an enemy of the good people — the good 
working people," and that he was not sorry for his crime, — all 
tend to stamp him as an Anarchist. In fact, his bearing and 
conduct from the time of the commission of the crime to his 
execution, were entirely consistent with the teachings and creed 
of Anarchy. Moreover, neither the three careful personal ex- 
aminations which I made of him — one alone, one with Dr. Hurd, 
and one with Dr. Gerin — the measurements of his body by the 
Bertillon system nor the post-mortem findings, disclosed the 
slightest evidence of mental disease, defect or degeneracy. This 
opinion is confirmed by the people's experts who repeatedly ex- 
amined him and observed him from time to time, from the day 
of the assassination to the close of the trial, and by Dr. Gerin, 
the physician of Auburn Prison, who observed him carefully 
during the four weeks that he was in that institution awaiting 
execution. Dr. Gerin has had exceptional opportunity for the 
stvidy of criminals, both sane and insane, in his capacity as Prison 
Physician, and, previously, as Assistant Physician at the State 
Hospital for the Criminal Insane. 

If Czolgosz was a victim of mental disease, the question would 
naturally arise as to what form of that disorder he was suffer- 
ing from. If, in answer to this question, we undertake to make 
a diagnosis by exclusion, we find the following results : There 
was absolutely no evidence of insane delusion, hallucination 
or illusion. There was none of the morbid mental exaltation or 
expansiveness of ideas that would suggest mania in any form, 
none of the morbid mental gloom and despondency of melan- 
cholia, none of the mental weakness of dementia, none of the 
conjoined mental or motor symptoms that are characteristic of 
paresis, nor was there anything in his manner, conduct or declara- 
tions that would suggest the morbid vanity and egotism, the 
persecutory ideas or the transformation of personality which 
usually characterize paranoia or systematized delusional insanity. 
In fact, at no time during the period from his arrest to the time 
of his execution, did he exhibit any of the mannerisms, boast- 
ful display, etc., or claim to have a "divine inspiration" or "a. 
mission," or make any complaint or suggestion of personal 
wrongs and persecutions which are so characteristic of para- 



MENTAL STATUS OF CZOLGOSZ.— Dr. MacDonald. IQI 

iioiacs ; nor did he, during his trial, or subsequently, evince any 
indication of satisfaction or delight at being the central figure 
of the occasion, and the observed of all the observers, which he 
was ; nor was there any attempt on Czolgosz' part to simulate 
mental disease. The refusal to talk with his counsel was per- 
fectly consistent with the views which he expressed to the Dis- 
trict Attorney soon after his arrest, namely, that he did not be- 
lieve in law and that he wanted no counsel. He did, however, 
converse with others, namely, the District Attorney from time 
to time before his trial, also with his guards at the Btiffalo jail, 
with whom he frequently walked in the corridor fronting his 
cell, for an hour or two at a time, conversing with them in- 
telligently the while, and making his wants as to bathing, toilet, 
tobacco, etc., known in a natural manner. He also conversed 
freely with the people's experts, in their earlier examinations 
of him, and talked, though not so freely, with Dr. Hurd and 
myself, and when on arraignment for trial and formally asked 
to plead, he promptly arose from his chair and answered in a 
clear voice, "guilty." He also responded promptly when directed 
by the clerk of the court to "stand up and look upon the juror," 
as each of the jurors were sworn, and resumed his seat in each 
instance at the proper time. Beyond this he remained mute 
while in the court room, and yet to any one who observed him 
closely it was apparent that he was fully aware of, and attentive 
to the proceedings. 

A recent writer* — an eminent alienist — discussing the mental 
state of Czolgosz says : 

"We can perceive no indications of mental disease in Czol- 
gosz, and were the absurdity of his statements and acts to be a 
criterion of mental unsoundness, we should have to establish a 
new category of insanity for the reception of the various groups 
of anarchists — not to mention other torrorists. 

"We deem it an error to regard Czolgosz' mutism in court 
when called on to plead and before his counsel as an attempt to 
simulate insanity. This conduct is in line with his role expressed 
in the theatrical declaration, T am an Anarchist and have done 
my duty.' As it was his 'duty' to slay the President, it is his duty 
to go to death with his lips sealed, and with this intent, first the 
plea of guilty and his conduct are perfectly consistent. He 
shows no reluctance to converse on matters disconnected from 



*"The Menital State of Czolgosz and of Assassins Generally," by E. 
Spitzka, M. D. Medical Critic, November, 1901. 



192 MENTAL STATUS OF CZOLGOSZ.— Dr. MacDonald. 

the crime, nor even of matters connected therewith, provided 
they do not touch its preparations and thus betray his associates." 
Aside from his reticence to his counsel, there was nothing in 
Czolgosz' manner, appearance or declarations that was indicative 
of insanity or of simulating. His reticence toward his counsel, as 
already intimated, was entirely consistent with his expressed 
disbelief in government and in law, and his declaration that he 
shot the President with a clear knowledge of the nature and 
consequences of the act; and while he pleaded guilty in court 
and also proclaimed when he went to his death, his reason for 
committing the crime, and declared that he was not sorry there- 
for, in a manner which clearly implied that he regarded the 
act as a justifiable one, he did not claim that it was not a crime 
on his part as paranoiacs usually do, nor did he in any way indi- 
cate that he regarded himself a victim of conspiracy or perse- 
cution. On the contrary, he declared — to the people's experts — 
that he fully understood what he did when he shot the President, 
and was willing to take the consequences; that "I know what 
will happen to me— if the President dies, I will be hung." Jus- 
tice White, commenting on Czolgosz' plea of "guilty" when 
arraigned for trial — a plea which could not be accepted under 
the law — said: "The prisoner's plea of guilty indicates that he 
himself anticipates no escape from the penalty which the law 
prescribes for a crime of the character alleged in the indictment." 
Again Czolgosz said: "I have done my duty, I don't believe in 
voting; it is against my principles. I am an Anarchist." He 
further said that he had been an ardent student of the doctrine 
of Anarchy, and had attended many "circles" where these sub- 
jects were discussed. He had attended a meeting of Anarchists 
"about six weeks ago," and also in July; had met and talked 
with an Anarchist in Chicago "about ten days ago;" that he 
belonged to a "circle" in Cleveland which had no name. "They 
called themselves Anarchists." That he went to Cleveland "on 
no particular business" the Friday before the assassination. He 
had been in Buffalo for two or three weeks prior to going to 
Cleveland. "I planned to kill the President three or four days 
ago, after I came to Buffalo" — from Cleveland — "I don't believe 
in the Republican form of government, and I don't believe we 
should have any rulers. I had that idea when I shot the Presi- 
dent, and that is why I was there." 

In explanation of his abandonement of his religious faith and 
his rejection of the services of a priest, Czolgosz said the night 
before his execution, "I would like the American people to 
know that I had no use for priests. My family are all Catholics 



MENTAL STATUS OF CZOLGOSZ.— Dr. MacDonald. 193 

and used to go to church until the hard tmies of 1893. We 
had been taught by the priests that if we would pray God would 
help us along, but it did no good; it didn't help us and we 
stopped going to church at that time." He also said at this in- 
terview: "McKinley was going around the country shouting 
prosperity when there was no prosperity for the poor man. I 
am not afraid to die. We all have to die sometime." 

It may be said that Czolgosz' belief which he expressed as he 
went to his death, that the President "was an enemy of the good 
working people" was a delusion, and such it undoubtedly was 
in the broadest sense of that term; that is, it was a false belief, 
but it was in no sense an insane delusion or false belief due to 
disease of the brain. On the contrary, it was a political delusion, 
so to speak, — a false belief founded on ignorance, faulty educa- 
tion and warped — not diseased — reason and judgment, — the false 
belief which dominates the politico-social sect to which he be- 
longed and of which he was a zealot, who in common with his 
kind believes that all forms of government are wrong and un- 
necessary — a body of mal-contents whose teachings oppose all 
government, and who advocate the use of violence to destroy 
the existing social and civil order of things. By his own ad- 
missions, Czolgosz was a devout Anarchist and a firm believer 
in the principles of "Free Society," as taught by Emma Goldman 
— of whom he was an ardent admirer — and others. These were 
the beliefs which furnished the motives for the murderous deed. 

That Czolgosz was an Anarchist and actuated in his crime 
by the motives which spring from the teachings of that sect, 
are clearly shown by : i. His declarations after his arrest, namely, 
that he did not believe in any form of government or law, and 
that all rulers were tyrants who ought to be put down. 2. His 
admissions to the District Attorney that he was a member of 
anarchistic societies or circles, and had frequently attended the 
meetings of the same ; also that he had been influenced in his views 
by the "lectures" of Emma Goldman ; and that when apprehended, 
anarchistic literature was found on his person, and 3. The recog- 
nition and commendation which he has received at the hands of 
Anarchists at their meetings both in this country and abroad 
since his death, several of these societies having openly recog- 
nized him as such and lauded his action. 

The Anarchists' creed teaches that when one of their number 
is selected to do a certain deed, he is to proceed about it quietly and 
in his own way, taking no one into his confidence ; that, having 
accomplished the deed, if apprehended, he shall not admit his 
connection with any other members of the circle; that, if con- 



194 MENTAL STATUS OF CZOLGOSZ.— Dr. MacDonald. 

victed and sentenced to die, he shall go to his death without 
revealing his connection with others, resting secure in the belief 
that he will be ever regarded by his associates as a martyr and a 
hero, who died in the discharge of a noble duty. The course 
and conduct of Czolgosz from the beginning down to his death 
are entirely in keeping with this creed. And finally the cool and 
courageous manner in which he met his death, and the fact that 
from the day of his arrest until he died, he never uttered a word 
that could be used against his accomplices, — if he had any, — and 
that he died— as Anarchists who suffer the death penalty always 
die — without uttering a word that would tend to incriminate 
any of his co-conspirators, all tend to stamp him as an Anarchist. 
In conclusion, the writer having viewed the case in all its 
aspects, with due regard to the bearing and significance of every 
fact and circumstance relative thereto that was accessible to him, 
records his opinion unqualifiedly that Leon F. Czolgosz, on Sep- 
tember 6th, 1901, when he assassinated President McKinley, 
was in all respects a sane man — both legally and medically — and 
fully responsible for his act. 

<?5 Madison Ave., New York. 



THE POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION OF 
LEON F. CZOLGOSZ. 

BY EDWARD ANTHONY SPITZKA. 

The post-mortem examination of Leon F. Czolgosz was per- 
formed by the writer under the supervision of Dr. Carlos F. Mac- 
Donald, of New York, who was requested by the State Superin- 
tendent of Prisons to take medical charge of the execution, with 
Dr. John Gerin, the prison physician. The examination began 
at 7:50 A. M. and was completed at 12:30 P. M. 

As the body lay upon the table in the dorsal position, the right 
leg — to which the electrode had been attached — was slightly 
flexed and a trifle abducted. This attitude of the body has been 
found by Dr. Ira Van Gieson (i) to be uniform in the electro- 
cuted bodies which he has had occasion to examine. In all the 
cases which he has examined, the electrode has been applied to 
the knee reflex. 

Corresponding to the attachment of the leg-electrode there 
was a superficial blistering, with some desquamation of the epi- 
dermis and some oedema. At the site of application of the head- 
electrode, there were only a few signs of vesication, limited to 
the occiput. 

Post-mortem discoloration existed in all the extremities, but 
not in the trunk, head or neck, where the skin was fairly white. 
There was post-mortem lividity of the toe and of the finger nails. 
The pressure of the straps had not produced any discoloration. 
There was a small urethral discharge, probably of seminal fluid. 

The physiognomy may be described as youthful and with 
rather a pleasant expression. The nose was pointed, slightly 
retrousse and fairly straight. The eyes were blue, the pupils 
equal and moderately dilated. The face was oval and sym- 
metrical. The ears were well formed and absolutely symmetrical. 
The mouth was well shaped and the lips full. The teeth were 
normal in shape, but in poor condition. The palate, uvula, etc., 
were all normal. The external genitals were normal. There 
were two flat cicatrices on the mucous surface of the prepuce, 
about 5 mm. from the corona glandis. The tissues under and 
about these cicatrices were not indurated, and the scars were 
doubtless the remains of chancroids. 

The body cooled very slowly throughout the examination, and 
the greatest amount of heat appeared to be retained in the brain. 



196 AUTOPSY OF CZOLGOSZ.— E. A. Spitzka. 

Rigor mortis set in about three hours after death. The meas- 
urements of the head were as follows: 

Centimetre^ 

Maximum circumference (^21^ inches) 54-6 

Max. antero-posterior diam. (from glabella to 

max. posterior point) 18.7 

Max. lateral diameter 15.5 

Cephalic index 82 . 88 

Bi-auricular diameter (between roots of zy- 

gomae) 150 

Length of face (from its inter-superciliary point 

to the superior alveolar point between the 

middle incisors) 9.2 

Bi-zygomatic diam 14-5 

Min. frontal diam 12.0 

Diameter from glabella to inion 19. i 

From vertex to hair-line 12.0 

From hair-line to root of nose 6.0 

From root of nose to its base 5.3 

From base of nose to chin 7.0 

Total vertex to chin (diameter) 25 .4 

Breadth between pupils of eyes 6.8 

Breadth of nose at its base 3.4 

Length of mouth (internally) 4.0 

Length of mouth (externally) 5.0 

Length of ears (both sides equal) 6.1 

A cast has been made from molds of the head and two photo- 
graphic views, in full face and in profile, are presented here. Un- 
fortunately the left ear in the mold was broken during transpor- 
tation from Auburn, and the fragments were pieced together 
with difificulty. The defects have been rectified in the photo- 
graph. On the subject the ears were perfectly symmetrical, both 
as to form and size. 

The attitude of the body gave rise to the prominence of the 
"Adam's apple" and to a slight parting of the lips. 

On the skull the following measurements were taken: 

Max. antero-posterior diam 18.0 ctm. 

Max. lateral diam 14.7 " 

Cranial Index, 81.66. 

The head of Czolgosz, as is typical of the Poles, falls into the 
sub-brachy cephalic class; according to Weisbach the cephalic 
index of forty Poles was 82.9 (82.88 in Czolgosz). 

The measurements of the body taken according to the Ber- 



AUTOPSY OF CZOLGOSZ.— E. A. Spitzka. 197 

tillon system showed that they were all medium, and every one 
consistent with the other. 

THE CRANIUM.— The scalp was divided by means of a 
median incision passing from the glabella to the inion. On 
incising the scalp a quantity of dark fluid blood escaped. The 
scalp was of moderate thickness, firm and well adherent to the 
skull. The two flaps of the scalp were dissected from the skull 
and drawn down on either side of the head. The sutures were 
well marked, and no synostosis was observed. Supernumerary 
or abnormally developed bones were not discernible. 

The calva was removed by a saw-cut passing around the 
cranium about 1.5 ctm. above the glabella and about 2.5 ctm. 
above the inion. In Figure 7 is shown the outline of the thick- 
ness of the skull along this section. In the removal of the calva 
the saw was supplemented by the chisel and hammer. The calva 
came ofiE readily, the dura being non-adherent. There was no 
marked escape of cerebro-spinal fluid. Along the saw-cut the 
skull was slightly flatter in the fronto-parietal region on the 
right side, while it was more curved or rounded on the left. 
The right parieto-occipital region was a trifle fuller than on the 
left side. The markings on the internal surface of the calva, such 
as the groove for the superior longitudinal sinus, and for the 
meningeal vessels, the digitations, and the impressions for the 
Pacchionian bodies, etc., were all distinctly marked. 

The dura was grayish-white, moderately translucent and some- 
what dry; there existed a marked engorgement of dark fluid 
blood. The dura was neither tense nor loosened. The Pacchion- 
ian bodies were of the usual number and distribution. The inner 
surface of the dura was fairly moist. There were no evidences of 
hemorrhagic pigmentation or of pachymeningitis. 

The brain, invested by the pia-arachnoid, was exposed by 
crucial incisions into the dura, which was perfectly non-adherent 
to the membranes within. The brain was carefully removed, 
and during most of the subsequent examination was kept in a 
salt solution (about i part in 20 of water). At the time of re- 
moval (9.45 A. M.) the brain was still very warm, but of firm 
texture and normal appearance. A few minutes after removal, 
still invested by the pia-arachnoid, and with the ventricles un- 
opened, the entire brain weighed fifty-one and a half ounces 
avoirdupois (1,460 grammes). 

The base of the skull was normal in every respect. 

The pia-arachnoid was of normal thinness, devoid of opacities 
or other signs of disease — past or present. The only unusual 



igS AUTOPSY OF CZOLGOSZ.— E. A. Spitzka. 

appearance was an injection of bright red blood in the finer 
vessels of the pia, due, if we may judge from previous reports 
of autopsies on electrocuted criminals, to the action of the high 
electromotive force of the electric current in this part of the 
body. The pia was stripped ofT with ease, being nowhere ad- 
herent to the cortex. 

EXAMINATION OF THE BRAIN. 

In general, the brain presents no marked peculiarities of shape 
or size. It was firm to the touch, and no portion of it, despite 
most careful examination, felt softened or indurated. 

The brain was divided into its natural segments according to 
the following method: The ectal border of the optic tract and the 
taenia thalami ("ripa" of Wilder) were used as guides for a single 
simple incision; those of either side converged cephalad to meet 
in front of the chiasm; the usual cut through the callosum and 
the terma (lamina terminalis) completed a tri-section which left 
the cerebrum (prosencephal) and brain-axis separated as nearly 
the ideal as can be. This mode of dissection is a modification of 
Meynert's plan and is a method by which each hemicerebrum, 
with the insula intact, is separated from the brain-stem, whereas 
Meynert's, by trenching round the circuminsular boundaries, 
separates the convex cortical mass from the brain-stem plus the 
insula, leaving a cortical component attached to the axial struc- 
tures. The Meynert method, consequently, does not give the 
weight of the cerebral hemispheres, strictly speaking. This 
would not be a serious objection, so far as the caudatum and lentic- 
ularis are concerned ; but as it also excludes the important cortical 
area of the insula — no inconsiderable portion of the cerebral pro- 
jecting and associating tracts — it falls short of the modification 
adopted here. 

After the brain had been thus dissected and drained, and the 
pia-arachnoid stripped off the cerebrum, the segments were 
found to have the following weights: 

Left hemicerebrum (without pia) 585 grammes 

Right hemicerebrum (without pia) .... 600 " 

Cerebellum (with pia-arachnoid) 166 " 

Isthmus (with pia-arachnoid) 64 



(( 



1,415 grammes 
Or a trifle less than 50 ounces. 
Examination of the paracoeles (lateral ventricles) in both 
hemicerebra revealed the veins of the striatum (striatal veins) 



AUTOPSY OF CZOLGOSZ.— E. A. Spitzka. 



199 




FIGURE I. LATERAL VIEW OF THE LEFT HEMICEREBRUM. 




cJ^Sf^iif^ ■''^ 



FIGURE 2. — MESIAL VIEW OF THE RIGHT HEMICEREBRUM. 



200 AUTOPSY OF CZOLGOSZ.— E. A. Spitzka. 

injected with deep-violet colored blood. The cornua were of 
normal extent and conformation throughout. The endyma was 
smooth, the choroid plexus was normal and contained little 
blood, the velum interpositum was normal. 

THE FISSURES AND GYRES. 

Left Hemicerebrum. — The sylvian fissure was 6| ctm. in 
length; the episylvian, 2^ ctm.; the hyposylvian was absent. The 
presylvian ramus was 2 ctm. in length and the subsylvian i ctm. 
in length. 

The central fissure was fairly flexuous and ramified; it was 
uninterrupted throughout its length and separated from the 
sylvian by a narrow isthmus. At its ventral end the fissure ter- 
minated in a hook-like manner. The supercentral fissure was 
confluent with the superfrontal, but was separated from the pre- 
central. The superfrontal was distinct in the mid and post 
frontal regions, but was absent in the prefrontal region. The 
three-tier type was preserved in the prefrontal region by the 
existence of a medifrontal fissural segment about 4 ctm. in 
length, which was confluent with the orbito-frontal. This is 
not very clearly seen in the figure, owing to the effect of the 
convexity. The reader is referred to the schematic outline in 
Figure 8. 

The precentral fissure was confluent with a small diagonal 
fissure, and this in turn with the presylvian. It sent an "anterior 
percentral ramus" across the medifrontal gyrus to anastomose 
with the superfrontal fissure. 

The subfrontal fissvire was independent and sent off several 
rami into the neighboring gyres. There was a very long radiate 
fissure. 

The precentral gyrus was not very broad as compared with 
the postcentral gyrus. The three frontal gyres were fairly mas- 
sive and marked by fissures which ran generally transversely. 

The postcentral fissural complex consisted of three segments. 
The dorsal one was very flexuous and ramified, but independent. 
The middle segment was confluent with the parietal, and was 
only superficially joined to the third segment — the subcentral. 
The transpostcentral was hardly visible on the external surface, 
but on examination was found to communicate with the circum- 
insular fissure. 

The parietal fissure was notable for the angle it made with the 
intercerebral cleft, converging rapidly toward it as it passed 
caudad. It communicated with the paroccipital fissure over a 
vadum about 6 mm. in depth. Otherwise, the paroccipital did 



AUTOPSY OF CZOLGOSZ.— E. A. Spitzka. 



20I 




e.A. Spirits ^ 

FIGURE 3. LATERAL VIEW OF THE RIGHT HEMICEREBRUM. 




FIGURE 4. MESIAL VIEW OF THE LEFT HEMICEREBRUM. 



202 AUTOPSY OF CZOLGOSZ.— E. A. Spitzka. 

not communicate with any other fissure. There were two trans- 
parietal fissures, and the cephaHc one communicated with the 
precuneal fissure on the mesial surface. 

The temporal lobe was of good size and shape. The super- 
temporal fissure was uninterrupted throughout its length and 
communicated with the intermedial over a slight vadum. The 
meditemporal fissure was represented by four segments. Nu- 
merous fissures, the "lateral occipital" among them, marked the 
region of the occipito-temporal transition. The postcalcarine 
fissure appeared on the external surface for about 2 ctm. 

The postcentral gyrus was of good development and was fairly 
wide. The marginal, angular and postparietal gyral portions of 
the subparietal lobule exhibited a moderate development. The 
parietal gyrus was of cuneiform shape, broad cephalad, narrow 
caudad. The supertemporal gyrus was very sinuous. The re- 
maining temporal gyres were fairly wide and well developed. 

The subcalcarine gyrus was wide in its caudal portion. The 
cuneus was small — rather unusually so. The precuneus was of 
good size and conformation. The paracentral gyrus was of 
typical appearance and of the usual size. It was traversed by a 
well-marked inflected fissure, and by a tri-radiate intraparacentral 
fissure. The mesial surface of the superfrontal gyrus was of 
moderate size, and was marked by five or six transverse fissures, 
three of which were rami of the supercallosal. The callosal 
gyrus in its cephalic half was doubled by a long fissure running 
parallel with the supercallosal; in its caudal part it was traversed 
by several transverse fissures. 

There were two well-marked rostral fissures (rostral and sub- 
rostral) and a short transrostral. The supercallosal fissure was 
long and anastomosed with the paracentral over a vadum of 
5 mm. 

The paracentral fissure in turn anastomosed with the precuneal 
over a vadum of 3 mm. The occipital and calcarine fissures 
anastomosed freely. A posterior cuneo-lingual subgyrus tended 
to partially separate the calcarine from the postcalcarine. The 
collateral fissure was fairly well ramified. 

The insula exhibited a good development. There were six 
gyres proper, wath seven peri-insular digitations. The insula 
was completely covered by the opercula. 

Right Hemicerebrum. — The sylvian fissure was 5-J ctm. in 
length; the episylvian, 3 ctm.; the hyposylvian, i^ ctm.; the 
presylvian, 2| ctm.; the subsylvian was very short. 

The central fissure was uninterrupted throughout its length, 
and was separated from the sylvian by a very narrow isthmus. 



Journal of Mental Pathology. 




LEON F. CZOLCOSZ. 

Profile view of plaster cast. 



Journal of Mental Pathology. 




LEON F. CZOLCOSZ. 

Plaster Cast made immediately after death, by E. A. Spitzka. Mould of left ear 
was broken in transit',,- defect rectified in Photograph. 



AUTOPSY OF CZOLGOSZ.— E. A. Spitzka. 



203 





FIGURE S- HORIZONTAL OUTLINE OF THE 

HEAD (by LEADSTRAp). 



FIGURE 7. OUTLINE DRAWING OF THE 

SKULL IN THE PLANE OF THE SAW-CUT DE- 
SCRIBED IN THE TEXT, SHOWING THE 
THICKNESS OF THE BONES. 





FIGURE 6. OUTLINE OVER THE VERTEX, 

FROM EAR, TAKEN JUST IN FRONT OF THE 
ZYGOMAE. 



FIGURE 8. — DIAGRAMMATIC SKETCH, SHOWING DISPO- 
SITION OF THE FISSURES AND GYRAL TIERS IN THE 
LEFT FRONTAL UlUK. 



204 AUTOPSY OF CZOLGOSZ.— E. A. Spitzka. 

The supercentral fissure anastomosed with a long superfrontal 
fissure, but not with the precentral fissure. 

The precentral fissure joined both the transprecentral and the 
diagonal, and by means of these the sylvian cleft. This fissure 
gave ofif an anterior precentral ramus from which sprang the 
caudal segment of the subfrontal fissure. 

The superfrontal fissure was long and uninterrupted, extend- 
ing nearly to the frontal pole. There was no true medifrontal 
present. The subfrontal fissure was in two segments, the caudal 
segment being confluent with the precentral by means of its 
ramus; the cephalic segment anastomosed with the orbito- 
frontal. Besides an independent radiate fissure, there were other 
unnamed fissures in the subfrontal region. There were two long 
sagitally directed orbital fissures; the mesial one of these com- 
municated with the orbito-frontal. 

As in the left half, the precentral gyrus was rather narrow as 
compared with the broader postcentral gyrus. The three frontal 
gyres were all of good width and were chiefly marked by trans- 
verse fissures. 

The postcentral fissural complex was made up of two seg- 
ments superficially confluent with each other. The dorsal seg- 
ment was short. The ventral segment was longer, and was con- 
fluent with the parietal fissure. The parietal fissure was unin- 
terrupted, deep, and separated from the paroccipital fissure by an 
isthmus There was a well-marked postparocccipital fissure and 
one distinct transparietal. 

The supertemporal fissure was long, uninterrupted, and not 
deeply confluent with any other fissure. There were four medi- 
temporal fissural segments. The intermedial joined the parietal. 
There was a fairly well-marked "lateral occipital" fissure. 

The postcentral gyrus was fairly wide and flexuous. The 
parietal gyrus was wide, and exhibited the same cuneiform shape 
as described for the left side. Of the subparietal gyres the 
angular gyrus was of fair size, while the remainder of this terri- 
tory showed only moderate development. The paroccipital gyrus 
was very small, but quite flush with the general surface of the 
brain. 

The gyres of the temporal lobe showed very good develop- 
ment, and in the occipito-temporal transition the markings were 
quite complex. 

On the mesial surface the supercallosal fissure consisted of 
two segments, and there was a similar duplication of the callosal 
gyrus (in its cephalic portion) as has been described in the left 
half. A notable peculiarity consisted in the confluence of the 



AUTOPSY OF CZOLGOSZ.— E. A. Spitzka. 205 

inflected fissure with the paracentral stem, while the cephalic 
paracentral limb was separated from its stem, but was joined to 
the caudal end of the supercallosal. There was a tri-radiate 
intraparacentral fissure. The precuneal fissure would be inde- 
pendent but for a superficial junction with the paracentral. 

The occipital fissure was deeply confluent with the calcarine. 
The postcalcarine was tri-radiate and separated from the calcarine 
by a "posterior cuneo-lingual" isthmus. 

The superfrontal gyrus was faiixv well marked by many trans- 
verse fissures, and by two long and distinct rostral (rostral and 
subrostral) fissures. The precuneus was large, a little larger 
than its fellow on the left side. The cuneus was as small as on 
the left half. The subcalcarine gyrus was of considerable width 
in its caudal portion. 

The insula presented an ordinary degree of development, and, 
as on the left side, possessed six gyres, with seven peri-insular 
digitations. 

The Consistency of the Brain. — In cutting the brain the 
resistance to the knife suggested neither increased nor dimin- 
ished consistency. The cut surface was moderately moist, the 
gray as well as the white matter was of normal color, the cortex 
was of the usual thickness, and there existed neither anaemia 
nor hyperaemia. No hemorrhages, sclerotic patches, neoplasms 
or other lesions were discoverable. 

The basal ganglia, crura, cerebellum, pons and oblongata were 
all perfectly normal, there being an absence, so far as naked-eye 
examination could determine, of even the small hemorrhages in 
the floor of the fourth ventricle which have been usually found in 
electrocuted criminals. 

The spinal cord was not examined. 

THE THORAX AND ABDOMEN.— The blood that came 
out from the lips of the incision of the abdominal walls was 
dark in color and fluid. The pericardial sac contained from 
three to four fluid drachms of clear fluid. The heart was firm 
and had ceased in systole. The ventricles were empty; the heart 
walls, endocardium and valves were normal. Weight, eleven 
ounces. Both lungs were somewhat emphysematous, floating a 
trifle more than half out of water. They were moderately pig- 
mented and of firm consistency None of the bronchial lymph- 
nodes were enlarged. Except for a few bands of pleuritic adhe- 
sions of the right lower lobe, there were no lesions in either lung. 

The intestines presented nothing unusual. 

The pancreas was normal. 



2o6 AUTOPSY OF CZOLGOSZ.— E. A. Spitzka. 

The liver was dark and hyperaemic, but healthy; there were 
no patches or other lesions, and the organ weighed sixty-one 
ounces. 

The spleen was also hypergemic and mottled, with light pink 
streaks, but the structure seemed to be normal. Weight, 7^ 
ounces. 

The kidneys were markedly hyperaemic, but all the structures 
could be made out clearly, and they indicated the existence of a 
normal condition. The capsule was non-adherent in both kid- 
neys. 

The bladder was somewhat contracted and firm, and contained 
about three ounces of clear urine. 

The results of the necropsy may be summed up by saying 
that Czolgosz was in excellent health at the time of his death. 
There was, of course, a marked condition of hypersemia of all 
the viscera, and the blood was considerably altered, in that it 
remained fluid, undoubtedly due to the destruction of the fibrin- 
ferment, or of the fibrinogen, or both. These phenomena, such 
as the tetanized condition of the heart, have been observed by 
E. C. Spitzka, C. F. MacDonald, Van Gieson, and E. W. 
Holmes on criminals executed by lethal currents of electric- 
ity (2-3). 

Describing the external appearances of the body, Murat Hal- 
stead says, in part: "The body was as white as marble, the face 
not at all distorted. One might say he was as if sleeping; the 
features were as if in a condition of repose." Whether his body 
invested a healthy mind is a question for discussion which it is 
not entirely in the writer's province to examine. So far as our 
knowledge of the correlation of brain structure and brain func- 
tion extends, nothing has been found in the brain of this assassin 
that would lessen the enormity of his crime by the plea of mental 
disease due to intrinsic cerebral defect or distortion. The brain 
weight, although of itself unimportant, points to a good condi- 
tion of the organ, when considered in its other relations; divested 
of its membranes, dissected, drained and after being immersed in 
a salt solution for several hours, its weight was 1,415 grammes — 
a trifle less than fifty ounces. This weight is a little over the 
average. Gietschenko records observations on the weight of 
102 Polish brains, the average being, for males, 1,397.8 grammes, 
in cases of average statures of 168.12 ctm. The development 
of the fissures and gyres, from a morphological view-point, took 
place in the direction usual in ordinary average brains. There 
were no marked evidences of arrested development or of pithe- 
coidal anomalies. Generally speaking, this brain did not exhibit 



AUTOPSY OF CZOLGOSZ.— E. A. Spitzka. 207 

that especial kind of asymmetry of gyral structure in the cerebral 
halves that is so characteristic of the brains of highly endowed 
individuals. There were many features in the one hemisphere 
that were reproduced almost exactly alike in the other. The few 
peculiarities encountered in the course of the fissures, such as 
the confluence of the left precentral, by its anterior ramus, with 
the superfrontal — across the medifrontal gyrus; or the separa- 
tion of the right cephalic paracentral limb from its stem, while at 
the same time the inflected joms the paracentral (a feature found 
by the writer in 9 out of 160 hemicerebra in which the inflected 
was present), are significant so far as individual brains are con- 
cerned, and will be discussed at length in a later contribu- 
tion. 

The skull was not symmetrical, but the asymmetry was slight 
and fully within the normal range of variation. An absolutely 
symmetrical skull probably does not exist. 

It is a probable fact that certain classical aberrations from 
the normal standard of brain structure are commonly encoun- 
tered in some criminals and degraded classes of society; and some 
v/orkers who have attempted to found a school of degeneracy 
have endeavored to explain the manifestation of crime and other 
psychic abnormalities by the fact of "accidental persistence of 
lower types of human organization." But these structural anom- 
alies, so far as they have been described in the brains of crim- 
inals, are too few and too insufificiently corroborated to warrant 
us in drawing conclusions from them. Various perversions or 
anomalies of mind may exist in this class without presenting a 
uniform criminal type from the anatomical aspect Of course, it 
is far more difficult, — and it is impossible in some cases — to estab- 
lish sanity upon the results of an examination of the brain, than 
it is to prove insanity. This difficulty is so much the more com- 
plex because some forms of psychoses have absolutely no ascer- 
tainable anatomical basis. The assumption has been made that 
these psychoses depend rather on circulatory and bio-chemical 
disturbances. So far as this question touches upon the brain and 
body of Czolgosz, there have been found absolutely none of those 
conditions of any of the viscera that could have been at the bottom 
of any mental derangement. Taking all in all, the verdict must be, 
"socially diseased and perverted, but not mentally diseased." The 
most horrible violations of human law can not always be condoned 
by the plea of insanity. "The wild beast slumbers in us all. It 
is not always necessary to invoke insanity to explain its awaken- 



ing." 



In conclusion, the writer wishes to express to Dr. Carlos F. 



208 AUTOPSY OF CZOLGOSZ.— E. A. Spitzka. 

MacDonald his appreciation of and thanks for the exceptional op- 
portunity afforded in the performance of this autopsy. 
66 East y^d street, New York. 

REFERENCES. 

1. VAN GIESON, cited by Carlos F. MacDonald (see reference 

below). 

2. CARLOS F. Mac DONALD, "The infliction of the death 

penalty by means of electricity; being a report of seven 
cases, with remarks on the methods of application, and the 
gross and microscopical effects of electrical currents of 
lethal energy on the human subject." 1893. 

3. E. W. HOLMES, ''The anatomy of hanging, with a report of 

the electrocution of Fritz Meyer, at Sing Sing (now Os- 
sining). — Pcnn. Med. Jour., July, ipoi. 

4. N. W. GILTSCHENKO, "Das Gewicht des Gehirns u. 

einzelner Telle desselben bei verschiedenen Volks- 
staemmen Russlands." — Nachrichten d. K. Ges. d. Freunde 
d. Natnrk., Anthr. u. Ethn. a. d. Univ. Moskau, B. 95; Arb. 
d. anthrop., Sekf. B. ig, Moskau, iSgg, pp. QQ-220. (Rus- 
sian) Ref. in Jahrcsbericht neber Fortschritte d. Anat. u. 
Physiol, i8pp, pp. 415-458- 

5. E. A. SPITZKA, "The mesial relations of the inflected fis- 

sure. — Observations on 100 brains." — Proc. Assoc. Anier. 
Anatomists, ipoi, pp. 105-115; N. Y. Med. Jour., Jan. 5th, 
iQOi, pp. 6-10. 



NOTE BY AUTHOR. 

The reader who may have happened to see an article entitled "Degeneracy 
and Political Assassination," by Eugene S. Talbot, M. D., D. D. S., in 
"Medicine," December, 1901, must be surprised to find that the citation — 
"It is admitted by E. A. Spitzka that the brain presented anomalies" — is 
airectly contradicted here. This is one of those numerous instances that 
shows the desirability of medical writers awaiting the responsible publica- 
tions of scientific results or conclusions, instead of giving newspaper canards 
currency, by incorporating them in their papers, and at the same time dis- 
torting facts to fit the theories they hold. The paper of Dr. Talbot pre- 
sents such an endless vista of inaccuracy as to give ground for apprehen- 
sion, that many other facts on which it rests were obtained in a similarly 
uncritical way and hence have misled that writer as unfortunately as in 
the Czolgosz matter. 

The incorrect and misrepresenting citations were sufficiently trying with- 
out additional infliction in the way of an invidious implication, be it over so 
unintentional on Dr. Talbot's part, — but when the entire tone of the article 
in reference to the Czolgosz trial is critical anent its alleged "cooked and 
dried" character, and he intimates suppression of post-mortem evidence, it 



AUTOPSY OF CZOLGOSZ.— E. A. Spitzka. 209 

sounds as if "it is admitted by E. A. Spitzka that the brain presented anoma- 
lies" indicated an unwilling admission and hence a partisan spirit. How- 
ever, as the statement is altogether untrue, this feature needs no more con- 
sideration than "no microscopic examination worthy of the name was 
made." 

We deserve at least this piece of justice, that we did not pretend to have 
done anything we did not do. Had we made a microscopic examination, it 
would have been our aim to have been more accurate in citation of collateral 
writers than Dr. Talbot has been or seems to have aimed at being. So how 
it can have been worthy or unworthy of any name, I cannot see. 

Dr. Talbot, not familiar with the laws of New York State, commits an- 
other error when he says : 

"The course of the court in refusing to accept his plea of guilty and 
forcing him to accept counsel is justifiable only on the ground of assumed 
insanity." 

The laws of this State do not permit the plea of guilty in capital oflFences. 

E. A. S. 



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